BharatQR faces delay as banks are not yet ready to scan these codes

BharatQR is a card payment scheme where bank customers can use their bank's mobile banking application to scan a QR code displayed at a merchant outlet and make payment through the bank account.Pratik Bhakta | ET Bureau | May 29, 2017, 09:42 IST

BharatQR, which is expected to drive merchant point retail payments in the country through quick response or QR codes, is facing a delay in deployment as banks are yet to integrate their technological framework with all the major card payments networks in India.

While official numbers on BharatQR transactions are yet to be released, industry sources say it is yet to take off in a big way.

"For BharatQR, three separate certifications with all the major card network schemes are required and that is where banks are mostly stuck as they are in the process of updating their backend work," said a senior banker who heads technology at a private sector bank on condition of anonymity. "Most banks are Rupay qualified on the acceptance business, Visa and Mastercard are still remaining."

BharatQR is a card payment scheme where bank customers can use their bank's mobile banking application to scan a QR code displayed at a merchant outlet and make payment through the bank account.

All three card schemes of India - Visa, Mastercard and Rupay - have come together to develop an interoperable QR code solution for BharatQR. The customer is required to map his debit card with his bank's mobile application.

This does not need a costly point of sales terminal thereby being ideal for small retail merchants. "It's still very early days and banks have already started deploying their QRcodes and are in the process of updating apps but it will take at least 3 months to close all technological issues at the banks' back-end," said another banker associated with the digital payments process.

The advantage for merchants to use BharatQR is that RBI has proposed a 10 basis points lower charge for such transactions in comparison to cards.